


My Little Muse

by Iridescence (Sorshana)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Boys In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 14:56:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15776391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sorshana/pseuds/Iridescence
Summary: On their 10th anniversary, Dean has a surprise in store for the man that he loves. But will the secret prove to be too much for Castiel to wait around for?





	My Little Muse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MelancholySeraph](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelancholySeraph/gifts).



> This piece is pure sap and fluff, so bring forth the tissues.
> 
> After spending a fun several hours on Skype with the author that inspired me to write for the first time in several decades, I learned that her 18th birthday is right around the corner. Having dubbed her "my little muse", almost immediately I had a working concept around the boys we both love to ship. It seemed almost kismet (why yes, I am a complete sap) that she's a Castiel girl while I favor Dean.
> 
> Melly - I can never repay you for what you gave back to me. It may sound dramatic but immersing myself in a fictional world while bringing it to life was something I used to love. Thanks to your works and beautiful personality, I've fallen in love with it all over again. When we first started talking I immediately felt a connection with you, soul sisters of some kind perhaps. I've never had a real sister and I imagine the fun we had talking is what it would be like. I poured those feelings into this work, letting your inspiration drive me from the first word to the last. We're the Angels With A Shotgun, my little muse. <3

Dean Winchester leaned against the hood of his Impala and stared down the old barn. With all the world had been through in the last decade, he was truly amazed it was still standing and none the worse for wear by the look of it. He’d taken a huge leap of faith planning this little surprise for his beloved solely around the barn’s continued existence. Dean had a contingency plan of course, but it somehow just wouldn’t have been the same.  
  
He pushed himself off the car and approached the partially open barn doors. As the musty smell hit his nostrils it transported him back ten years, when he was again entering this building but with Bobby Singer by his side. _Be with me here one more time Bobby,_ Dean prayed. _Be my backup and give me strength to believe I deserve this happiness. Help me to make Castiel happy._  
  
Using the flashlight on his phone, Dean scanned around the area taking stock of how to best set up. Shattered lightbulb shards still littered the dirt ground and shone as the light passed over them. The empty wood crates he and Bobby had used while waiting still were tumbled askew, although they seemed further back than he remembered. He could make out the faint warding that had taken them hours to place and create. _Not that it did us any good that day,_ Dean chuckled to himself. But he was better prepared this night.  
  
He’d enlisted Sam’s help for this project and together they spent days researching angel warding, putting together a rough schematic of the barn and where the sigils were best placed to make it a No Landing Zone for Castiel. Dean regretted that in order to keep the surprise just that, they’d had to reapply warding to the Bunker to keep Cas from making a surprise entrance and spoiling the whole thing, but it couldn’t be helped if he wanted this to be perfect. The expected argument from Cas came quickly and they’d fought over it long and bitterly until Dean had resorted to begging, whimpering really, for Cas to trust him just for a little while longer. Cas relented shortly thereafter with a soft kiss but Dean didn’t miss the hurt in his lover’s eyes.  
  
As he began laying out materials on the barn floor he hoped his angel was human enough to understand the meaning of his gesture. He knew Cas loved him and Dean would never tire of hearing the words in that deep sandpaper voice. He also knew that Castiel didn’t yet fully understand the depth of their meaning, but his actions gave truth to the words. He always came when Dean called and needed him the most. When they’d stood together in this barn eye to eye so many years ago, Cas told him, “I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from Perdition.”  
  
Even now Dean had no idea why he’d felt the need to fight that knowledge so strongly when the truth had been clear in those blue eyes but in the years since, Cas had pulled him back from his own personal Hell again and again, most of the time not knowing that he had. With a touch, a look, sometimes by just asking what was the matter. Castiel’s presence alone held the power to soothe Dean’s shattered, and often battered, soul.  
  
In the last few years the kisses, the late night pillow talks and intimate moments they shared had served to steer Dean clear of even looking in the direction of that precipice. He felt ashamed of how long it took him to realize Castiel had healed him, not with his Grace but just by being him. For the first time since the fire that changed the course of his childhood, he felt truly happy and safe.  
  
The vibration of his phone brought Dean back to the present as he received a text from Sam. “Are the sigils in place yet?”  
  
“No. Just got here,” Dean sent back.  
  
“Put them up fast. Cas is here and getting mad I won’t tell him where you are. Without the warding he can track you. Want me to use the blowback sigil?”  
  
Dean growled audibly as he sent the reply. “NO! God. Just stall him Sam. Tell him I’m following a lead and to keep his ears on for my call.”  
  
He pointed the phone light towards the barn doors and jogged back out to the car, pulling the two remaining boxes out of Baby’s backseat and kicking the door shut. _Aren’t I usually the impatient one?_ He wondered what had gotten into his boyfriend and worried his bottom lip as he picked his way through the barn debris to set the boxes down inside the door.  
  
He pulled a couple of lanterns out of one of the boxes and set them down on the ground as he lit them. Pulling the first can of spray paint and the printed diagram out of the second box, he turned to the barn door before remembering Sam’s warning. _Make sure you break the old warding. We don’t know what the combined wards will do to Cas._ Dean looked around and blew out a breath at just how many he and Bobby had put up. Every wall was covered top to bottom and, while most were for demons and he doubted they would hurt Cas, Dean couldn’t take the risk. Pulling out his knife and grabbing a lantern, he got to work.  
  
                                       ***********************************  
  
Castiel was pacing the study at the bunker like a caged animal but suddenly stopped and spun to face Sam, slamming his hands on the table. “Why won’t you let me find him? If he’s on a hunt he could be hurt or…” Cas’ voice trailed off as his eyes clouded with worry.  
  
“He’s fine Cas,” Sam tried to reassure him. “I was just texting with him. He said he was following a lead and for you to listen for his call.”  
  
“Why can’t he tell me that himself? Why didn’t you go with him?” Cas fired the questions at Sam as his eyes started glowing brighter.  
  
Sam approached his friend and reached out for him, “You’re worrying too much and if you’d just…”  
  
“I’M WORRIED BECAUSE NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE!” Cas exploded and stormed towards Dean’s room to search for answers. He was bound by his word not to spy on Dean’s whereabouts but he’d said nothing about looking for clues.  
  
Sam sent a quick text to Dean, “HURRY UP”, and followed Cas towards the living quarters.  
  
He leaned against the doorjamb and watched silently, a little impressed, as Cas searched his brother’s room with FBI precision. Sam hoped like all hell Dean had been smart enough to take all the evidence with him because the jig was up if Cas found so much as a receipt.  
  
Desk drawers were removed, emptied and overturned. Every picture frame had been taken apart gently, as most of the photos were of himself and Dean. Every piece of furniture was moved and every inch of it examined. Sheets were pulled off the bed, both the mattress and box spring checked for secret holes. Sam breathed a sigh of relief when Cas stopped short of pulling the stuffing out of the pillows and thought that was the end of it until Cas started running his hands along the walls and baseboards looking for some kind of secret compartment.  
  
48 minutes later, Hurricane Castiel had finished blowing through Dean’s bedroom and glanced around at the mess with a sad look. “There’s nothing,” he whispered, picking up a photo of them and sitting down Indian-style on the floor to look at the man he loved. It was a picture Dean had taken of them laying on his bed after the first time they’d made love. They were both bare chested and laughing, and Cas couldn’t remember what Dean had said to make him so amused. _Is that bad,_ Cas wondered to himself. _Shouldn’t I remember something that made me so happy?_  
  
A thought he didn’t want invaded his mind but he had to know. Sam was a good friend but he was loyal to his brother first and foremost so it wasn’t impossible. Cas looked up at Sam and found him studying him.  
  
“Sam…”, Cas began. “Is Dean seeing someone else right now, the way he sees me?”  
  
Sam was so shocked Castiel would even think that, he didn’t reply right away. Cas just continued to watch Sam and felt tears start to fall from his eyes. He put the photo down and wiped them away impatiently, looking back up at Sam as he approached him.  
  
Sam couldn’t take it anymore. The angel was questioning his brother’s love and he couldn’t let it continue. He moved the photo out of the way and grabbed Castiel’s hands, pulling him off the floor and into a hug.  
  
Leaning back, Sam saw the heartbreak in his eyes. With a sigh he told Cas, “He’s at the barn.”  
  
Cas jumped on the information. “What barn? Where? Why is he at a barn?”  
  
Sam took Cas’ face in his hands. “Not just a barn, Cas. THE barn.”  
  
Understanding dawned in Cas’ eyes and he gave Sam a loud kiss on the cheek.  
  
“Just tell him I’m… “ but Cas was already gone. “…sorry.” Looking around the destroyed room he decided there’d been enough friction today and begun setting the room to rights.  
  
                         ************************************  
  
Dean had just finished placing the lanterns when the barn began to shimmy and shake while a light glowed from between the cracks. _Right on time,_ he thought, in awe of his love’s always perfect timing. He quickly broke the warding on the wall beside him and positioned himself in the center of the barn as the doors flew open and Castiel stormed inside. He stopped short and collapsed to his knees, seeing what Dean had been doing for the last few hours.  
  
Soft glowing lanterns were positioned under every light Castiel had shattered with his power during their first face-to-face meeting. Rose petals were scattered on top of the broken glass surrounding the lanterns, turning the destruction into something beautiful that sparkled in the lamplight.  
  
“Oh Dean…”, Castiel breathed.  
  
Dean kneeled in front of him and took his hands, mirroring Castiel’s words across the years back to him. “Good things do happen, Castiel. What’s the matter?”  
  
Cas bowed his head to look at their joined hands and let the tears fall. Human emotions were so fragile and he wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to them. But they were powerful too, strong enough to overcome his faith in the man before him with the fear of losing him.  
  
Dean gently put his fingers under Cas’ chin and lifted his face so they were eye to eye. Silently he leaned forward and kissed away a tear, then another. He took Cas’ left hand and placed it on his bicep, covering it with his own. Feeling the warmth radiating off Castiel made him shiver and his carefully crafted speech was reduced to mush at the touch, but he knew what was in his heart.  
  
“You raised me from Perdition, Cas. Not just here in the barn but over and over again in the years since, you pulled me out of my own personal Hell and brought me further away from that black hole. You’ve been my little muse, pushing me and inspiring me. Believing in me through everything, so much that you made me a better man. It’s never been easy between us but we always found our way back to each other, one way or another. I’m not an easy man to love and I know it. I’m stubborn and irrational, impatient and impulsive. I’ve hurt you, made you angry… made you cry.” Dean stopped to wipe another tear from Castiel’s beautiful face.  
  
“But I love you, God Cas, so damn much it hurts. I just don’t know how to show it well. Show me how to love you Castiel and no one will love you deeper and better than I will.” He pulled the simple silver band out of his jacket pocket and saw the small diamond embedded in the center glint in the light from the lanterns.  
  
He brought Cas’ left hand to lay flat on his chest. “You left your mark on my soul the day you left your handprint on my arm. Please Castiel, I need you. Please be mine as long as my heart beats. I love you.” He brought the ring into Cas’ line of sight and heard him gasp as his eyes got wide. Dean held his hand tighter on his chest, whispering a quiet plea. “Marry me Castiel. Please marry me.”  
  
Castiel’s smile moved across his face slowly as he sobbed tears of their love. Sparkling beauty created from destruction and he now understood how his Lord was capable of treasuring His Creation so much. Cas would never question his faith again, in his Father or his future husband.  
  
Sliding his finger into the ring Dean held, he buried his hands into the dirty blonde hair and pulled him forward. As Cas leaned in for a kiss, he looked into Dean’s tear-filled eyes and said, “Don’t ever change,” before covering his mouth and letting the love they’d created pull them under.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: The season 4 premiere that introduced Castiel into the show, Lazarus Rising, was aired around the same time as Melly's birthday 10 years ago. Fate, anyone? :-)


End file.
